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Yeah start with that stupid Eiffel Tower its a bloody eyesore!

Unfortunately, the desire to keep historical buildings conflict with the need to add density. Clearly, people should make some tradeoff, but it should not be "never demolish any old buildings".

Paris doesn't really need to add density, it's already one of the densest cities in Europe. Clearly some other phenomenon is at work here.

Very tall residential buildings have surprisingly low densities for a wide variety of reasons: extra building infrastructure, high capital costs result in expensive apartments which price them out of most people's means so they end up being sold to the rich who can afford to pay twice as much anyways for more floor space, etc.

Density:

Paris: 21,000/km^2

Seoul: 17,000/km^2

Hong Kong: 6,480/km^2

Cairo: 18,071/km^2

If you propose a building in London that would obstruct the view of St Pauls Cathedral for someone many miles away, that can be grounds to have your application denied:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protected_view

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